Burning MBTI Questions Answered #10
I would love to hear your thoughts on how Introverts in general (or particularly, my INTJ/INFJ self) can go about self-marketing – promoting their own business – in a way that feels right to them. When talking to people and working a crowd isn’t your thing (in fact, the very idea downright exhausts you), what’s the best way to put the word out there about your own business?
My first response is “I have no idea” because this is something that I struggle with myself. What has helped me to understand my own particular dynamic came from looking at the Reiss Desire Profile. The Reiss looks at 16 core motivators – two of which contribute to my own challenges in putting my work “out there”. One is that I have a high need for ACCEPTANCE. You can imagine how that messes up the risk taking required to put my offer on the table. Thoughts of “will I be rejected… what if …” I really don’t need to go on here- I am sure that you get the picture.
The second is my low need for POWER. People who have a high need and are comfortable with POWER just keep going. This trait contributes to a certain kind of resilience that does not see obstacles, interruptions or breakdowns as anything other than hurdles. My low POWER often stops me from even starting. So that even though I have a preference for Extraversion it is not clear in certain circumstances and I experience the same result as you describe.
So we are left with… what if you are not a natural self-marketer? My first advice is not to listen to others advice on this. There are marketing professionals galore who will tell you to follow their 10 easy steps to success. Sure their system works if (and only if) you are wired the same way they are. The question as you so aptly put it is – what will work for you?
There is often an assumption that if you are a solopreneur you have to do “everything” yourself. Perhaps this is an assumption worth investigating. How can you design a model for your business that handles attracting business in another way? I would love to simply leave that question open for you to percolate but let me give you some examples. In my business, part of my strategy is to I collaborate with other coaches and consultants who need what I have to offer but who don’t want to do the parts that I love to do – one on one coaching focused on leadership development. In some cases the reason for collaborating for certain consultants is that I offer a “value add” that contributes to expanding their repetoire. Imagine being able to offer visioning through arts based activities to clients who are seeking innovative approaches. What this means is that instead of focusing on marketing myself to individual clients my business design focuses on finding consultancies where I can play a needed role. Usually I don’t need to do anything because consultants recognize the value of my offer or they don’t – it’s simple.
In a whole other approach, I have written about how online marketing and social media can support those with a preference for Introversion. You can read more about that in a previous post where Denise Wakeman points out that she has created one on one relationships with people online in her own way at her own pace. This approach has facilitated a natural transition to presenting in public as so many in the audience are people with whom she already has a one to one relationship. Denise and her partner Patsi, both have a preference for Introversion and have designed their business building to compliment their preferences.
It might be an interesting exercise for you to flesh out your assumptions about self-marketing and then to get curious about how you could reach out to others to design a business model that leveraged your natural traits and preferences and let others do the heavy lifting where you aren’t comfortable.
Of course there is always the larger question – is being a solopreneur right for you? Is there a different way to do the work you love in another context?